The United Nations announced on Monday that it had suspended its humanitarian operations in the stronghold of Yemen’s Houthi rebels after the group detained eight more UN staff members, disrupting the global response to one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.
In a statement, the UN said the “extraordinary” decision to pause all operations and programs in northern Saada province was due to the lack of necessary security conditions and guarantees.
A spokesman for the Houthis didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
The rebels in recent months have detained dozens of UN staffers, as well as people associated with aid groups, civil society and the once-open US Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. None of the UN staffers has been released.
The UN statement said the pause in operations is meant to give the Houthis and the world body time to “arrange the release of arbitrarily detained UN personnel and ensure that the necessary conditions are in place to deliver critical humanitarian support” in rebel-held areas.
It said the latest detained UN staffers — taken late last month — included six working in Saada, on Yemen’s northern border with Saudi Arabia.
Seven UN agencies operate in Saada, including the World Food Program, the World Health Organization and UNICEF, along with several international aid organizations, according to the UN humanitarian agency.
The UN late last month suspended all travel into Houthi-held areas.
The war in Yemen has killed more than 150,000 people. The Iranian-backed Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, since 2014, when they descended from their stronghold in Saada and took control of Sanaa and most of the north.
